JPH0795981A - Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute accurate comparative diagnostic and measuring diagnostic by storing a plurality of ultrasonic image data of specific resolving power in an image memory and synthesizing those data corresponding to a plurality of frames to display them on one screen. CONSTITUTION:The image data stored in memories 20-24 or the image data stored in memories 25-27 are applied not only to a synthesizing part 28 but also to a recording/reproducing frame buffer 29 corresponding to a mode. The synthesizing part 28 synthesizes the applied image data and the data stored in the recording/reproducing frame buffer 29 can be also synthesized by the synthesizing part 28. For example, four images R1-R4 changed with time are preliminarily stored in the recording/reproducing frame buffer 29 and successively read to be synthesized. In this case, the comparison of the images due to a time-varying change is performed and, for example, the image at a normal time can be subjected to the comparative diagnosis with the other image. The image synthesized by the synthesizing part 28 is displayed on a monitor of high resolving power and recorded on a VTR 13 through a high vision interface 28.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which displays a plurality of image data including ultrasonic image data obtained from ultrasonic received signals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus irradiates an ultrasonic wave into a living body and obtains a tomographic image and blood flow information from a reflection echo signal from the living body. In this type of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, a digital scan converter (hereinafter referred to as DSC) is provided between the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving circuit and the monitor. The DSC is a device for converting image data obtained by ultrasonic synchronization asynchronous with a TV signal into a video signal of a standard TV system, and mainly stores at least one frame of pixel (for example, 640 × 480 pixels) data. It is composed of a frame memory for storing. In this type of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, for example, a plurality of images in different modes and a plurality of images with different frozen timings are displayed side by side on a monitor. In such a case, the image data is thinned out vertically or horizontally and arranged in the frame memory as needed.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the above conventional configuration,
When a plurality of images are displayed side by side on a monitor, the obtained images are thinned out and arranged in the frame memory, so the resolution of the images becomes low. Therefore, the resolution of the display is lowered to form a rough image, which causes a problem that it is difficult to accurately perform comparison diagnosis and measurement diagnosis using images.

On the other hand, in this type of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, VTR
It is also practiced to record an image in an image recording device such as the above and display a plurality of images including a reproduced image side by side. In such a case, the VT
An image must be reproduced from a recording medium such as R, and the switching time of the image becomes longer by the time required for reproduction. An object of the present invention is to enable accurate comparison diagnosis and measurement diagnosis by displaying a plurality of images.

Another object of the present invention is to shorten the switching time of images when displaying a plurality of images including reproduced images.

[0006]

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus for displaying a plurality of image data including digital ultrasonic image data of a predetermined resolution obtained from an ultrasonic received signal on one screen. It is provided with an ultrasonic image data generating means, a plurality of image memories, an image synthesizing means, and a displaying means.

The ultrasonic image data generating means generates ultrasonic image data at the above resolution. The plurality of image memories respectively store the plurality of image data including the ultrasonic image data generated by the ultrasonic image data generating means for at least one frame. The image synthesizing means synthesizes a plurality of image data stored in each image memory for a plurality of frames at the resolution. The display means is capable of displaying the image data of the resolution synthesized by the image synthesizing means for a plurality of frames on one screen.

Incidentally, the image data stored in each image memory is arranged between the recording / reproducing means capable of recording / reproducing a large number of frames and between each image memory and the recording / reproducing means.
A frame buffer for temporarily storing the image data recorded in the recording / reproducing means for a plurality of frames, and a writing means for storing the image data reproduced by the recording / reproducing means in the frame buffer may be further provided.

[0009]

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, when the ultrasonic image data generating means generates ultrasonic image data of a predetermined resolution, a plurality of image data including the ultrasonic image data is stored in each image memory. Remembered. The stored image data are combined by the image combining means for a plurality of frames, for example. The combined image data of a predetermined resolution is displayed on one screen by the display means. Here, since images for a plurality of frames are displayed at a predetermined resolution, the resolution does not decrease even when the image data for a plurality of frames are displayed side by side. Therefore, it is possible to accurately perform comparison diagnosis and measurement diagnosis by displaying a plurality of images.

If the recording / reproducing means, the frame buffer and the writing means are provided, the reproduced images for a plurality of frames recorded in the recording / reproducing means can be temporarily stored in the frame buffer. The image data stored in the frame buffer is combined by the image combining means and displayed on the display means.
Since the frame buffer is provided here, even when displaying a large number of frames of image data recorded in the recording / reproducing means, by writing them in the frame buffer once and then reading them out as necessary, It is not necessary to reproduce the image from the recording / reproducing means every time the frame image is switched. Therefore, the time required to switch the display image is shortened.

[0011]

1 is a schematic block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes a probe 1, a transmission / reception circuit 2 connected to the probe 1, a Doppler calculation unit 3, a color flow calculation unit 4 and an A / D conversion circuit 5 connected to the transmission / reception circuit 2. Connected DSC6 and high-resolution monitor 7 connected to DSC6 capable of displaying, for example, 1280 × 1024 pixels
And a high-definition interface 8, a magneto-optical disk interface 9 and a VTR interface 10 connected to the DSC 6, and the respective interfaces 8
Hi-Vision V as a recording device connected to
It has a TR 11, an optical disk device 12, and three VTRs 13.

The probe 1 is composed of, for example, a plurality of minute oscillators. The transmission / reception circuit 2 includes a high-frequency pulse oscillator for transmitting an ultrasonic beam, an amplifier for amplifying the reflected echo, a detection circuit, and the like, and generates black and white tomographic data from the reflected echo. The Doppler calculation unit 3 obtains blood flow data (spectral data) in spectrum display from the obtained plurality of reflected echo data. The color flow calculation unit 4 performs color correlation data representing two-dimensional blood flow information by correlation calculation processing from the obtained plurality of reflected echo data (color changes according to the direction of blood flow and gradation according to flow velocity). Data that changes) is obtained.
The A / D conversion circuit 5 converts the generated tomographic data into digital tomographic data.

The DSC 6 has a Doppler memory 20 for storing the spectrum data obtained by the Doppler calculation unit 3,
A color B memory 21 for storing the B-mode color flow data calculated by the color flow calculation unit 4, a color M memory 22 for storing the M-mode color flow data, and an A / D conversion circuit 5 A gray B memory 23 for storing the B-mode black-and-white tomographic data obtained in step 1, a gray M memory 24 for storing the M-mode black-and-white tomographic data, and a character memory for storing a display character. 25, a graphic data 26 for storing various graphic data, and a bio-memory 28 for storing biosignal data such as heartbeat. Of these memories, each of the memories 20 to 24 has a capacity capable of storing image data of 640 × 480 pixels for at least one frame, and each of the memories 25 to 28 has 1280 pixels.
It has a capacity capable of storing at least one frame of image data of × 1024 pixels.

Further, the DSC 6 composes the image data of one frame (640 × 480 pixels) with the synthesizing section 28 for synthesizing the data recorded in the memories 20 to 27, for example, 10
Recording / playback frame buffer 2 that can temporarily store frames
9 and a control unit 30 that controls these memories 20 to 27 and each unit. Each of the memories 20 to 27 is a synthesizing unit 2
8 and a recording / reproducing frame buffer 29.

The control unit 30 controls the reading and writing of each of the memories 20 to 27, and also controls the Doppler calculation unit 3, the color flow calculation unit 4, and the A / D conversion circuit 5. Further, the synthesizing unit 28 and the recording / playback frame buffer 29
And control each interface 8-10. An operation panel 31 is connected to the control unit 30, and each unit is controlled by an input from the operation panel 31.

The synthesizing unit 28 synthesizes the image data stored in the memories 20 to 27. Here, in the case of the two-screen display and the four-screen display, each of the memories 20 to 27 is
The image data stored in is combined so that it can be displayed.
It should be noted that the synthesizing unit 28 includes the resolution (12
When displaying an image with 80 x 1024 pixels), 1280
A memory of × 1024 pixels is not necessary. In the synthesizing unit 28, the read-out control by the control unit 30 for each of the image memories 20 to 27 is performed so that the read-out image data is located at a position to be displayed in accordance with the display mode of the device, and the read-out image data is synthesized. . Further, the character data recorded in the character memory 25, the graphic data recorded in the graphic memory 26, and the bio data recorded in the bio memory 27 are combined. Then, this is D / A converted and output to the high resolution monitor 7. This eliminates the need to increase the memory capacity of the memories 20-24.

The synthesizing unit 28 includes the interfaces 8 to.
10 are connected. Recording / playback frame buffer 29
A magneto-optical disk interface 9 and a VTR interface 10 are connected to the. The recording / reproducing frame buffer 29 includes a magneto-optical disk device 12 and a VTR 13.
It is possible to temporarily store a maximum of 10 frames of the images recorded in the memory and the images stored in the memories 20 to 27.

As shown in FIG. 2, the VTR interface 10 includes six interface frame memories (hereinafter referred to as I / O frame memories) 40a to 40f corresponding to three VTRs 13 and A / D and D / A conversion circuits. Four
1 and. The VTR 13 has 640 × 48
An image of 0 pixels is set as one frame and is recorded one frame at a time. For this reason, when recording an image that is combined into 1280 × 1024 pixels by the combining unit 28 and displayed on the high-resolution monitor 7, it is necessary to extract a 640 × 480 image from the image. This extraction work is performed by input by a trackball or keyboard operation provided on the operation panel 31 connected to the control unit 30. For example, VT
At the time of R recording, a graphic cursor indicating a predetermined recording extraction area of 640 × 480 is displayed on the high resolution monitor 7.
An image to be recorded is displayed by displaying it on the screen and moving the display area with a trackball or a keyboard arranged on the operation panel 31 to specify an extraction range. According to the extraction result, the data of each frame of 640 × 480 pixels is recorded in the I / O frame memory 40. Two I / O frame memories are provided corresponding to one VTR here because the clock for displaying on the high resolution monitor 7 is faster than the clock of the relatively high speed NTSC system, so that the dual port This is because reading and writing cannot be performed simultaneously even when using a memory or the like. Here, when writing to one frame memory 40, the image data of one frame before is read from the other frame memory at the clock for NTSC signal generation, D / A converted, and combined with the sync signal to produce the VTR 13. I am sending it to. That is, writing and reading are toggled and operated each time an NTSC video signal for VTR for one field or one frame is created from image data corresponding to high resolution. Similarly, at the time of reproduction from the VTR 13, writing and reading are toggled to create high resolution image data.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. When an ultrasonic beam is transmitted from the probe 1 to the inside of the living body, the ultrasonic reception signal is received and processed by the transmission / reception circuit 2, and in the D mode, the signal is sent to the Doppler calculation unit 3 to transmit the color B or the color M. In the case of the mode, the received signal is given to the color flow calculation unit 4 and the A / D conversion circuit 5. In the case of B mode, M mode, and BM mode, the ultrasonic wave reception signal is given to the A / D conversion circuit 5. Then, the Doppler calculation unit 3 calculates the spectrum data by fast Fourier calculation or the like and stores it in the Doppler memory 20. Further, the color flow calculation unit 4 calculates the color flow data of the color according to the blood flow information by the color correlation B by the autocorrelation calculation.
The data is stored in the memory 21 or the color M memory 22. Further, in the case of the B mode or the M mode, the tomographic data is stored in the gray B memory or the gray M memory. On the other hand, when various character and graphic display commands are issued from the operation panel 31, those image data are stored in the character memory 25 and the graphic memory 26.
In addition, biometric information from the outside input from an electrocardiograph (not shown) or the like is stored in the biomemory 27.

The image data stored in the memories 20-24 and the image data stored in the memories 25-27 are given to the recording / reproducing frame buffer 29 according to the synthesizing unit 28 and the mode. The synthesizer 28 synthesizes the given image data. In the synthesizing unit 28, the recording / playback frame buffer 2
It is also possible to combine the data stored in 9. For example, in the recording / reproducing frame buffer 29, as shown in FIG. 3, four B-mode image images R1 to R4 which are temporally changed.
It is also possible to store the data in advance and read them sequentially to synthesize them. In this case, images can be compared based on temporal changes, and, for example, a comparative diagnosis can be performed between the normal image and other images. As these images that change with time, for example, images read from the VTR 13 or the magneto-optical disk device 12 may be used.

The image synthesized by the synthesizing unit 28 is displayed on the high-resolution monitor 7 and is synthesized on the high-definition VTR 11, the magneto-optical disk device 12, and the VTR 13 via the high-definition interface 8, the magneto-optical interface 9 and the VTR interface 10. The recorded image can also be recorded. It should be noted that 1 synthesized by the synthesis unit 28
When recording the data of 280 × 1024 pixels on the VTR 13, it is necessary to extract the recording area of 640 × 480 pixels from it. Because VTR13 has NTSC
This is because only the resolution data of the method can be recorded.
In this case, the operation panel 31 is used to display the cursor C (FIG. 3) indicating the recording extraction area, which is moved by the trackball or keyboard in the operation panel 31.
Extract the recording area. Only the data of the extracted recording area is sent to the VTR interface 10. VTR
In the interface 10, they are written in the two frame buffer memories 40 alternately by one field or one frame. When data is being written in one of the I / O frame memories, the data of one frame before is read from the other I / O frame memory.

When the image recorded on the VTR 13 is reproduced and displayed on the high resolution monitor 7, first the monitor 7
Display the VTR playback area on top. At this time, a cursor C indicating a reproduction area of, for example, about 640 × 480 pixels is similarly displayed on the monitor 7. Then, the NTSC signal reproduced from the VTR 13 is A / D converted and written into one frame buffer memory. Then, the control unit 30 writes the data sent from the VTR interface 13 to the synthesizing unit 28 via the re-recording frame buffer 29 in accordance with the reproduction area of the high-resolution monitor 7, and the synthesizing unit 28 synthesizes with other image data. And outputs to the high resolution monitor 7.
At this time, similarly, V for one field or one frame
Each time a TR signal is created, the frame buffer memory 40
It operates by toggling writing to and reading from.

It is also possible to record on the magneto-optical disk device 12 and the VTR 13 via the recording / reproducing frame buffer 29. In this case, the data of one frame of 640 × 480 pixels is recorded on them. Here, when an image is recorded on the magneto-optical disk device 12, it may be passed through the synthesizing unit 28 or the recording / playback frame buffer 29. When passing through the combining unit 28, the combined data of 1280 × 1024 pixels is stored. When recording is performed via the re-recording frame buffer 29, data of 640 × 480 pixels is recorded one frame at a time.

On the other hand, the composite image data recorded in the high-definition VTR 11 is the high-definition interface 8
And displayed on the high-resolution monitor 7 via the synthesizing unit 28,
The combined image data recorded in the magneto-optical disk device 12 is recorded in the magneto-optical disk interface 9 and the combining unit 28.
Is displayed on the high resolution monitor 7 via. The image data of one frame unit recorded in the magneto-optical disk device 12 is displayed on the high resolution monitor 7 via the magneto-optical disk interface 9, the recording / reproducing frame buffer 29 and the synthesizing unit 28. Here, the recording / playback frame buffer 29
By storing the image data for a plurality of frames in, the images can be combined and displayed.

Here, since the access speed of the magneto-optical disk device 12 and the recording / reproducing speed of the VTR 13 are usually slower than the access speed of the re-recording frame buffer 29 composed of a memory, they are directly passed through the re-recording frame buffer 29. When the image data is reproduced from the magneto-optical disk device 12 or the VTR 13, it takes a long time to reproduce. Therefore, when a reproduced image is displayed on the high resolution monitor 7 and switched to another reproduced image, the switching time becomes long. However, here, since the image can be reproduced through the re-recording frame buffer 29, a necessary reproduced image is stored in advance in the recording-reproducing frame buffer 29 having a high access speed, and a plurality of images stored in the recording-reproducing frame buffer 29 are stored. The image can be displayed on the high resolution monitor 7 via the synthesizing unit 28. This eliminates the need for image reproduction and shortens the image switching time. .

Further, since the high resolution monitor 7 capable of collectively displaying the data of 1280 × 1024 pixels is used, for example, 6 obtained at the resolution of a normal television is used.
Image data of 40 × 480 pixels can be simultaneously displayed on four screens without lowering the resolution. Further, since the recording / reproducing frame buffer 29 is provided, the display switching time can be shortened even if a recording device having a slow access speed is used. Furthermore, in the VTR interface 10, 640 ×
Since two frame buffer memories are provided for the VTR when extracting a recorded image of 480 pixels, even if a monitor with a fast write clock such as the high resolution monitor 7 is used, writing and reading are alternately performed. By doing so, a normal NTSC video signal can be created.

[0027]

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, the image data stored in the image memory at a predetermined resolution is displayed on the display means at that resolution, so that the resolution of a plurality of images is not reduced. It can be displayed on the display means. Therefore, comparison diagnosis and measurement diagnosis can be accurately performed. Further, when the frame buffer is provided, even if a plurality of image data are recorded in the recording / reproducing means having a slow operation speed, the switching time can be shortened when switching the display image during the reproduction.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block configuration diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block configuration diagram of a VTR interface.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a display.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Transmitter / receiver circuit 3 Doppler arithmetic unit 4 Color flow arithmetic unit 5 A / D conversion circuit 7 High resolution monitor 12 Magneto-optical disk device 13 VTR 20 Doppler memory 21 Color B memory 22 Color M memory 23 Gray B memory 24 Gray M memory 28 Composite Part 29 recording / reproducing frame buffer 30 control part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying a plurality of image data including digital ultrasonic image data of a predetermined resolution obtained from an ultrasonic received signal on one screen, wherein the ultrasonic image data is An ultrasonic image data generating unit for generating at a resolution; a plurality of image memories for storing at least one frame each of the plurality of image data including the ultrasonic image data generated by the ultrasonic image data generating unit; An image synthesizing unit that synthesizes a plurality of image data stored in each image memory for a plurality of frames at the resolution, and a display capable of displaying the image data of the resolution synthesized by the image synthesizing unit for a plurality of frames on one screen. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: 2. A recording / reproducing unit capable of recording / reproducing a large number of frames of image data stored in each of the image memories, and the recording / reproducing unit disposed between each of the image memories and the recording / reproducing unit. A frame buffer for temporarily storing a plurality of frames of image data recorded in the reproducing means, and a writing means for storing the image data reproduced by the recording / reproducing means in the frame buffer. Item 1. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Item 1.